ABOUT BASETEN
Baseten powers mission-critical inference for the world's most dynamic AI companies, like Cursor, Notion, OpenEvidence, Abridge, Clay, Gamma and Writer. By uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling, we enable companies operating at the frontier of AI to bring cutting-edge models into production. We're growing quickly and recently raised our $300M Series E, backed by investors including BOND, IVP, Spark Capital, Greylock, and Conviction. Join us and help build the platform engineers turn to to ship AI products.
THE ROLE
Are you passionate about advancing the application of artificial intelligence? We are looking for a Software Engineer focused on ML performance to join our dynamic team. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced startup environment and is eager to make significant contributions to the exciting field of LLM Inference. If you are a backend engineer who thrives on making things faster and is excited about open-source ML models, we look forward to your application.
EXAMPLE INITIATIVES
You'll get to work on these types of projects as part of our Model Performance team:
RESPONSIBILITIES
REQUIREMENTS
Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.
Experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages, such as Python or C++.
Familiarity with LLM optimization techniques (e.g., quantization, speculative decoding, continuous batching).
Strong familiarity with ML libraries, especially PyTorch, TensorRT, or TensorRT-LLM.
Demonstrated interest and experience in LLM’s.
Deep understanding of GPU architecture.
Bonus:
Proficiency in enhancing the performance of software systems, particularly in the context of large language models (LLMs).
Experience with CUDA or similar technologies.
Deep understanding of software engineering principles and a proven track record of developing and deploying AI/ML inference solutions.
Experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
BENEFITS
Apply now to embark on a rewarding journey in shaping the future of AI! If you are a motivated individual with a passion for machine learning and a desire to be part of a collaborative and forward-thinking team, we would love to hear from you.
At Baseten, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law (by example, the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, where applicable).
Baseten is an AI inference infrastructure company founded in 2019 in San Francisco. Its platform enables engineering teams to deploy, serve, and scale machine learning models — open-source, fine-tuned, or fully custom — in production without managing GPU orchestration, containerization, or cloud complexity. The company's proprietary Inference Stack combines runtime optimizations with inference-optimized multi-cloud infrastructure, targeting mission-critical production AI workloads. Baseten raised $300M at a $5B valuation in January 2026 and reported 10x year-over-year revenue growth in 2025.
Salary
$180,000 - $360,000
Location
San Francisco
Total raised
$585.0M
Last stage
Series E
Investors
No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.
A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.
I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.
Brian O'Shea
Head of Sales
Sam Warburg
Head of Commercial
If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.